I absolutely cannot believe the weather we have been having!!!!! Today marked the second day of flip-flop wearing. The temp at lunch time was 75!!!!!!!!!!!! I can't recall ever breaking out the flippies this early. LOVING IT!!!!! Usually once I start with the flip-flop syndrome I can't stop. That worries me if we still have a snow storm in our forecast!!!!!

My brother-in-law Joel is a very involved person in the American Heart Association. That's because the research that has been done, through donations, helped to save his life. He is trying to raise at least $4000.00 for this year's Heart Walk. If you could please go to this link

and give whatever amount you can give, our family would greatly appreciate it. Joel was named the 2011 Lifestyle Change Award winner at last year's Heart Walk and is the Chair of the 2012 Lafayette Heart Walk this year!

Our family is so thankful that he is here to do the great work that he is doing.

Passengers onboard Delta Flight 486 from Atlanta to New York would have been forgiven for thinking they were imagining things when they heard the captain enquire: "Is anyone here allergic to penguins?"

But then, when a pair of foot-and-a-half tall penguins waddled down the aisle of the plane cruising at an altitude of 30,000 feet, they probably realised they weren't.

Pete and Penny -- aged 6 and 12 -- were travelling from Atlanta to New Yorkt to the premiere of "Frozen Planet," a new Discovery Channel documentary.

One passenger said: "This is video proof that penguins CAN fly -- and that they have absolutely no fear of flying at all!

"When we reached cruising altitude, the captain allowed their handler to take them for a stroll up and down the aisle so that everyone could take a look at the cute, one-foot-tall penguins and get some great photos and videos."

My comment: There would be a heck of a personal mess to clean up afterwards - know what I'm saying?????

In this video, a wild Grizzly bear suddenly charges at a group of Alaskan tourists. Thankfully, no one was hurt in the incident.

The group of 10 tourists was visiting Katmai National Park and was taking part in what was billed as a safe viewing of the Grizzly bears in their natural habitat, according to the Daily Mail. But one of the bears suddenly charged from its stream directly at the tourists, who were forced to sit in silence, lest they upset the bear further and provoke a potentially deadly attack. At one point, the bear reportedly got close enough to a tourist to sniff his hooded sweatshirt, before returning to the stream.

'We had a safety class beforehand about what to do if we encountered a bear," tourist Larry Griffith, 59, told the Daily Mail. "All the bears were catching fish when this particular bear circled our group several times, wanting us to leave his fishing spot. This was not supposed to happen. Our guide said he saw this as a bluff charge, trying to scare us, which he did! We were all in shock but were happy that no-one in our group jumped up, ran away or screamed for their lives."